Kill Screen Archives: Filipe Salgado

The Quizmaster

It takes a lot of smarts to win at pub trivia, but what about the host? Filipe Salgado follows Toronto's most beloved Quizmaster, and gains insight into how this descendant of television quiz shows is built to be lost gracefully.

Jul 2 Profiles

Max Payne 3 Makes Us All Ugly Americans

When does Die Hard illuminate the gravity of a bad situation? In Rockstar Studios' Max Payne 3, the player-protagonist plays the ignorant American in Brazil, with only his brute force to save him.

May 31 Reviews

Prototype 2 Offers a Lot of Deity, Not a Lot of Definition.

What makes a man a "hero"? James Heller, the contortedly violent star of the Prototype 2, asks that question, but the answer leaves our reviewer strangely wanting.

May 21 Reviews

Too Little, Too Late

Environmental simulation Fate of the World lets you advance the world, only to end up destroying it. Filipe Salgado wonders why futility leads to such persistence.

May 1 Essays

No More Fog in Silent Hill

Is it possible to preserve classic videogames? The new rendition of the Silent Hill series shows that technology can undermine the best intentions, and old illusions are easily broken.

Mar 30 Reviews Reset

Devin Shatsky on the Silent Hill franchise and HD remakes in the changing landscape of the Horror genre

Mar 29 News

Unlevel Design

How does the other half play? Our one-time casino correspondent rides the bus to Niagara Falls and tries to get used to losing, being lost, and loathing games.

Mar 19 Essays

The Unauthorized and Incomplete Story of the IGF Pirate Kart

What happens when you combine more than 100 renegade game developers, 300 off-the-cuff games they made, and a mock failed submission to the Independent Games Festival? Filipe Salgado brings us into the sporadic and rebellious world of the 2012 IGF Pirate Kart to talk with some of the minds behind the collective about how they came together and why it's important to make bad games.

Feb 29 Essays

Review: Don't Play Sports With Justin Smith

Want to feel the sand between your toes and the ocean spray in your face, to hear the crowds ooh and ahh over your pirouettes in the sky? Justin Smith's Realistic Summer Sports Simulator is not your game.

Feb 24 Reviews

Review: Homeless, Gaming's Photo 101

Filipe Salgado on the independent game Homeless, which attempts to express the plight of the homeless with repeated presses of the A button. Questions remain: Why does the homeless man think he deserves to be homeless? And how did he get X-ray vision?

Feb 17 Reviews

Review: NFL Blitz

Regardless of one's familiarity of the game, some sports games just fall flat. Filipe Salgado paints a picture of why NFL Blitz won't have Madden worrying about competition anytime soon.

Feb 3 Reviews

Profile: Stephen Lavelle

One of the most prolific developers in the burgeoning indie game scene, Stephen Lavelle recently released his first large-scale game production with English Country Tune. Filipe Salgado catches up with the recuperating developer about the transition from small to large games, the difference between coding for a studio and developing his own indie games, and the importance of reading.

Feb 1 Profiles

Review: The Sims Social

Chances are you've heard of The Sims, Will Wright's mega-hit about living, having feelings, and dying. What happens when that dollhouse game meets Facebook, a social experiment of a very different character? Filipe Salgado argues it's a match made in hell.

Jan 19 Reviews

The Year Forgotten

Our senior writer Filipe Salgado bought his first console since the NES. He wonders why he can't remember any of the Xbox 360 games he played in 2011, and looks back on his indie roots.

Jan 3 Essays

These Robotic Hearts of Mine

A simple tale about a boy, a girl, a robot, a robot factory, and a million hearts. What, you don't know that one?

Dec 30 Columns Flash Forward

PoleRiders

Whack a pole and watch fun and tragedy unfold in unison! Filipe Salgado pays tribute to QWOP and GIRP creator Bennett Foddy's latest miscreation.

Dec 28 Columns Flash Forward

Review: Swift*Stitch

The videogame that will make you forget how to play videogames has arrived! Filipe Salgado sizes up the twisted Swift*Stitch.

Dec 20 Reviews

Review: Bullet Audyssey

What is a mute button doing in a game constructed around music? Bullet Audyssey is not so much music as it is just racket. Filipe Salgado explains.

Dec 15 Reviews

Review: English Country Tune

The first commercial game from auteur Stephen Lavelle, English Country Tune turns a cold and logical framework into exactly what it wasn't supposed to be—a murky narrative.

Dec 13 Reviews

Review: King of Dragon Pass

By combining fantasy and strategy, King of Dragon Pass allows you to write your own history. Filipe Salgado on why even the smallest decisions matter.

Dec 9 Reviews

Review: Saints Row: The Third

Volition's insane answer to Grand Theft Auto is less a reinterpretation than a novelty outfit. Filipe Salgado sees a lot of purple but it's the same old, same old.

Dec 8 Reviews

Coloring Machines

The musician and artist Roberto Carlos Lange talks to us about making art with Atari Video Music, a childhood playing with machines, and seeing music.

Dec 7 Essays

Review: Meanwhile

Is interactive really the future of comic books? Filipe Salgado explains why the "choose your own adventure" app may not hold up to its book form.

Dec 1 Reviews

Make or Break

An Independent Games Festival entry presents a new trial for Portugal's fledging game development scene. Filipe Salgado looks at the unusual origins of Seed Studios' PlayStation Network strategy game Under Siege.

Nov 23 Columns

Review: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Bethesda's new role-playing game is finally free enough to be all things to everyone, even those with a dim and narrow view of humanity. Filipe Salgado looks at the why and how of self-expression in Skyrim.

Nov 22 Reviews

Review: Batman: Arkham City

In contrast to the urgency of Arkham Asylum, the latest Batman installment nearly suffocates with its diversions. Filipe Salgado chronicles his turn in Arkham City.

Nov 17 Reviews

Review: Encyclopedia Fuckme and the Case of the Vanishing Entree

This ain't your older brother's dating sim. By Filipe Salgado

Oct 31 Reviews

Review: Wizorb

Filipe Salgado decided the best way to describe this quite familiar, and strangely unfamiliar, relative of Breakout was to tell its origin story.

Oct 25 Reviews

Review: The Binding of Isaac

A twin-stick shooter tackles a biblical story and keeps the gore, Old Testament-style.

Oct 12 Reviews

Review: Last Window: The Secret of Cape West

A late studio still has valuable lessons to teach us about world building and the art of noir. Filipe Salgado reviews the obscure sequel to an overlooked mystery, Hotel Dusk: Room 215.

Sep 29 Reviews

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